Art lithography



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ART LITIIOGBAPHY.

No Drawing.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, lluonn Aunrori, a native of Germany, residing at the city of New York, (who has made his application for naturalization in the manner provided for by law and has declared. his intention to become a citizen of the United States and has received his first papers in 'said proceeding for his naturalization,) and FRANK Nonr, a citizen of the United States, residing in said city and State of New York, have invented new and usel'ul Improvements in Art Lithography, of which .the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in art lithography, and it is concerned as well with the process for applying the inks, as with the ingredients and composition of the inks themselves.

The purposeof the invention is to improve the quality and beauty of lithographic work, and especially in fine lettering and the drawing of fine lines, and to save time, labor and expense in the making of lithographs.

The process and the inks can be used on zinc, flat stone, grainstone, alumin inm and other materials; and herein we designate all such materials as the stone.

The process for applying the inks consists substantially in first drawing the subject which is to be lithographed, and which we term, the design, by design including as well the work in ditl erent stages as the completed subject which is sent to the improver to be prepared for printing. The design is first drawn in our reve e ink, the composition of which is hereina'tter more fully set forth; and then the design, thus drawn, with the reverse ink, is covered all over with our cover ink, the composition of which is hereinafter fully set forth, which is brushed on all over the design, and the printing surface of the stone, and when under the treatment of the improver the design or artistic work upon the stone is revealed, the cover ink remaining upon the stone "forms the back-ground for the design.

Thus the process consists, in the first place, in drawing on the stone, in reverse, as is usual in lithographic work, the design with a pen, or in some cases, with a very fine brush, all parts of the design being shown. with the reverse ink. In this drawing of the design,- the draftsman can draw his lines quickly, and as single lines, thus saving much time in making the design. When the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1921.

Application filed. April 3, 1919. Serial No. 287,213.

design, in all its parts, is completed, it is dried for a short time, and then the second step of the process is applied to it. This second step consists in covering the design and the remainder of the printing surface of the stone all over with the cover ink, which may be applied quickly and easily with a brush. The design thus covered by the cover ink is then dried, and is turned over to the improverflto treat in the usual way in preparing the design and stone for the printen When the design is drawn on the stone in our reverse ink and then it and the remainder of the printing surface of the stone is covered with our cover ink the operations of the improvei brings out the design in great beauty and clearness, and so that the design takes the ink for printing, and a beautiful result is produced when the stone is printed from, and the articles printed come out from the press with unusual beauty and delicacy of impression; while the cost of the produc tion of the printed articles has been materially reduced.

lt is the especial object of our invention to enable the lithographing artist to draw his design and put it and its back-ground in condition to be operated on by the improver with much less labor, far more rapidly, and with less liability to error or blemishes, than is possible under the present methods. Furthermore, by the use of the two inks of our invention in connection with the steps now commonly performed by the improver, the design comes out much sharper and bet ter defined than is ordinarily the case under present methods, which makes our process particularly valuable for very delicate work, such as scroll worl: on bank notes, and fine etchings. The design on the stone is made with our reverse ink, and the nature of its composition is such that the ink dries very rapidly. As soon as the ink has thus dried, the design and the remainder of the printing surface of the stone, thatis the back ground of the design, is covered with our cover ink, and when the latter has dried, which takes but very little time, the stone is ready for treatment by the improv'er. This improver treats the stone prepared by our process in precisely the same manner as he does stones prepared by the methods now commonly in use. In general, this treatment by the improver, consists in rubbing and cleaning the stone with stone-acid, as his first step. The next step is to gum the surface of the stone; the next step is to lightly wash or rub the stone, including the entire printing surface thereof, with turpentine, and lastly, the stone is thoroughly washed and rubbed with water. At the end of these operations by the improver the stone, whether prepared by our new process or prepared according to the methods now commonly in use, will show the design in white on the dark back-groundof the stone, and when this stage has been reached, the stone is ready to be handed to the printer for printing in the usual manner. The method of p 'inting from the prepared stone is the same when prepared by our method as by the old way. The cover ink being largely composed of greasy ingredients will not adhere to those portions of the stone on which the design has been drawn in our reverse ink, since as hereinafter set forth, the ingredients of the reverse ink are grease resisting. Hence, the cover ink will only loosely lie over the reverse ink of the de sign, and when the improver, as aforesaid, lightly washes and rubs the surface of the stone with turpentine, the thin film of cover ink over thedesign will readily run off, and expose the design to the action of the turpentine. The turpentine wash, although only lightly applied, will remove the loosely overlying film of cover ink upon the design, and, as in the present practice of the improvers, will also somewhat thin the cover ink upon the other portions of the stone, which in the final result of the improvers treatment forms the back-ground for the design. The reverse ink is not materially affected by the turpentine wash, but it is entirely removed by the final steps of waterwashing the stone, but of course, the cover ink of the back-ground is not affected by this last step, since the greasy character of the cover ink will repel and resist the water, It is thus seen, that the only difi'erence between the method of preparing the stone for the printer when our herein described new process is used, and the methods or process now in use, resides in the drawing of the work and the treatment of the stone before it is placed in the hands of the improver. By the methods in use to-day, the lithographing artist when drawing upon the stone a fine design which is to appear in white on the stone when it is turned over to the printer, must first carefully and laboriously outline in parallel lines the letters or the lines of the design, and when that is done must also with great care and labor fill in the back-ground for the design, and must use much skill to avoid obliterating or running over the aforesaid parallel lines with the touche or lithographing ink with which he fills in such back-ground. W hen a coarse design, or an inscription written in large letters is being made by the lithographer, he is, of course, not required to exercise any great care nor put to any special labor to outline the letters or the parts of the design and may readily fill in the background with a brush, but when the letters are small, or the design is very delicate or intricate, it will readily be understood that the drawing of the design and the filling in of the back-ground between the lines of the design, is a matter requiring much delicacy, and necessarily has to be slowly and laboriously carried out. But our invention renders it entirely unnecessary for the artist to exercise any special care or to devote any great time or skill in the drawing of the design, and the preparation of a background for the design is readily and rapidly accomplished. lhese valuable advantages of our i vention are due to the fact that in our process the design is drawn solid in our reverse ink, and there is no outlining what ever; secondly, the lithographing artist is not required to make any back-ground whatever in our process, for as soon as the design has dried (a matter of but a few minutes) he at once covers it and the entire printing surface of the stone with a brush dipped in our cover ink, and so forms the back-ground for the design when it is revealed in white at the conclusion of the improvers treatment as above stated, and no especial care or skill is demanded. of the artist in carrying out this second and last novel step of our process.

The reverse ink is composee of the o lowing ingredients and preferably t proportions namcch-one ounce of which should be preferably pure dis water; one-half ounce of lamp-black water color; one-half ounce of stone-acid; one half ounce of lamp-blaclrg one-fourth ounce of oxalic acid; three drops of glycerin.

The several ingredients should be use substantially as described. They may be mixed cold or slightly warm, but no not require to be highly heats The ingredients are preferably mixed in a vessel of glass, and may be put in the vessel in any order. no particular order of inserting the ingredt ents being necessary to be followed.

The cover ink is preferably composed of the following ingredients and in the proportions named One ounce of diluted asphalt, the asphalt being diluted in turpentine and being a well known article of sale for lithographic purposes; one ounce of turpentine; one-half ounce of black printing ink, this being a well known article also in the trade; oneeighth ounce of ether. These ingredients also need not be mixed in any particular order, and may be mixed either cold or slightly warm, and preferably in a glass vessel.

The two inks will be kept separate in their respective glass vessels until they are used, and then, as will be understood from the foregoing description, the reverse ink will be used, preferably with a pen, to make the complete design, which will be dried; and then the design will be brushed, all over with the cover ink, which will conceal. the design. Then the design and the stone will be allowed to dry a short time, and will then be given to the improver to treat by any of the usual processes by which he is accustomed to treat lithographic stones in preparing them for printing.

After the drawing has been completed with the reverse ink, it may be drawn over with chalk, or may have solids applied to it, and other operations may be performed without injuring the design, if the operator desires to perform them.

The formula for the reverse ink above set forth, is that which we advise using in carrying out our process, but we do not limit ourselves to the precise proportions named by us, as they may in some degree be departed from if the lithographer may so desire, but we have found in our experi- (21168,l3l121l said ingredients produce the best results when used in the proportions which we have set forth. This is also true in a lesser degree of the composition of the cover ink, and we also advise that the proportions named by us for it, be adhered to. Nevertheless it is possible to obtain a fairly satisfactory cover ink for the operation of our process by employing the usual greasy printing ink, without adding to it any other ingredients. Such an ink will have the same greasy characteristic as our more efficient cover ink, but it will not be so useful, nor so practicable as our cover ink, and it will take far longer to dry and will also be much less smooth. the main essential of any ink which is used to form the background for the design, and to cover over the design itself, is that it shall be of such a character that it will resist and repel water. Any ink having that characteristic and being also adapted to adhere to the stone, can be used as the cover ink in our process in connection with our reverse ink, although the results will be far less satisfactory than those obtained by the use of our preferred cover ink.

Therefore our process may be operated with any water repelling cover ink suitable for lithographing process, and the use of any such ink as a cover for the work drawn in our reverse ink is within our invention.

Now having described our improvements, we claim as our invention.

1. In lithographic art work, the process of producing a design and its background upon a lithographic stone consisting, first, in applying the design upon the stone in reverse ink, then covering the design and the remainder of the printing surface of the stone with a water repelling and resisting ink, then removing the cover ink from the design, and finally removing the reverse ink by washing substantially as described.

2. 1n lithographic art work, the process of producing a design and its background upon a lithographic stone consisting, first, in drawing the design directly upon the stone in reverse ink, then covering the design and the remainder of the printing surface of the stone with a greasy cover ink adapted to adhere at most but slightly to the reverse ink, then removing the cover ink from the design by a solution acting as a solvent for the thin coating of the cover ink on the design, and finally removing the reverse ink by a solution that is a solvent for the reverse ink but not for the cover ink.

3. In lithographic art work, the process of producing a design and its background upon a lithographic stone consisting, first, in drawing the design upon the stone in re verse ink soluble in water but capable of resisting the action of a liquid having the characteristics of turpentine, secondly, covering the design and the remainder of the printing surface of the stone with a water repelling and resisting cover ink capable of adhering firmly to the stone and adhering poorly to the design, thirdly washing the stone with a liquid having the characteristics of turpentine until the cover ink is removed from the design, and finally washing the stone with water for removing the reverse ink.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York, and State of New York, this 29th day of March, 1919.

EUGEN AURICH. FRANK WOLF. 

